第7章 要約および予測

要約

予測

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目次

Product Code: LT025

Global lactic acid consumption has been growing steadily and rapidly since 2008, and the market capacity has arrived at 800,000 tons in 2013. The United States is still the largest consumer market in the world, accounting for 31% of total lactic acid consumption in 2013; China surpassed Western Europe to become the second largest lactic acid market, with growth in consumption primarily benefiting from increasing demand in the food and beverage processing industry as well as robust export demand.

PURAC, Cargill and Henan Jindan Lactic Acid Technology Co., Ltd. as the world's top three lactic acid manufacturers boasted a combined capacity of 505,000 tons in 2013. Cargill mainly supplies lactic acid products to its subsidiary - NatureWorks for production of polylactic acid.

Polylactic acid is one of the most potential applications of lactic acid. Since the smooth realization of industrial production in the 1990s, polylactic acid has seen incremental application in biomedicinel, automotive, electronics and other fields, accompanied by intensified development efforts in various countries. Currently, leading polylactic acid manufacturers are concentrated in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany and other developed countries.

In 2013, global polylactic acid capacity hovered around 320,000 tons, of which 90% came from six major manufacturers. Natureworks as the largest one had an annual capacity of 150,000 tons and market share of 45.2%.

Polylactic acid industry started relatively late in China, seeing gradual transition from laboratory to pilot industrial-production units only after 1990s. In 2014 China's polylactic acid capacity was approximately 13,700 tons, increasing by 4,800 tons over 2008. Most of the existing polylactic acid devices in China have small-scale production; the industry leader - Zhejiang Hisun Biomaterials Co., Ltd has an annual capacity of 10,000 tons, while others such as Henan Piaoan Group Co., Ltd. and Nantong Jiuding Biological Engineering Co.,Ltd. have never exceeded 1,000 tons.